Faith and story of a people

On September 3 (ongoing until Sunday 11) the 25th National Eucharistic Congress titled: “Lord, who will we go to? Eucharist for everyday life” opens in Ancona (Italy). On the background of the days are the five “areas” that the ecclesial Conference, held in Verona in 2006, had proposed as a path for reflection to the entire Italian Church, namely: affective life, fragility, work and feast, tradition and citizenship.The Cross of the WYD. Conceived as an ideal bond with the 26th WYD in Madrid that has just ended, on the afternoon of September 3rd the Cross of the World Youth Day in Madrid arrived to Ancona, placed by the statue of the Madonna of Loreto (symbol of Italian pilgrims at the WYD) that was welcomed by a crowd of young people from world countries, each holding their national flags. After the inauguration of the “Youth Space”, a representative of the youth department of the Pontifical Council for the Laity handed the Cross to his peers in the Agora of the Mediterranean, whose eighty youths convened in Loreto (until Sept 12) from world countries in the Mediterranean, Europe and Asia. The Eucharistic Congress will close with the visit of Benedict XVI, who on Sunday September 11 will preside over a solemn Eucharistic celebration at 10:00 hrs near the port of Ancona. The Holy Father will then lead the Angelus prayer. In the afternoon the Pontiff will meet first the spouses and the priests, and then the young fiancées.Wing beat. “These days of prayer, adoration and reflection on Eucharistic mystery will strengthen our faith and will provide momentum to Italy’s cultural and religious recovery”, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Pontifical Legate, said in his opening speech to the Congress. “Eucharist – he declared the following day, in the homily of the solemn opening Mass celebrated at the Fincantieri site in Ancona – is the great engine of Christian life” endowed with a force that is implemented through “service for the common good and for the contribution that Christians are called to convey to social and political life, which needs a wing beat more than ever before”. “The story of Eucharistic Congresses – underlined on September 3rd cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, welcoming the Pontifical Legate, “are inextricably tied to the life and to the transformations of our Country” and they reflect “the various civil and religious seasons of our people”. In this year, when Italy “celebrates the memory of 150 years of national unification – he added – it’s important to convey the regenerating force of the Eucharist that contributed to the shaping of the deep identity of our people long before its political identity took roots”. Mending fragments of humanity. Historian Andrea Riccardi spoke of the “social” connotation of the sacrament of the Eucharist. Recalling the birth in France of Eucharistic Congresses in 1881, Riccardi remarked: “The Eucharist, an intimate sacrament, possesses a thrust that extends outside the temples”. “Over the past decades – he acknowledged – a lot has changed in popular ethos”. But there is a spiritual dimension of history. It would be tragic if today this were ignored, when so many values have been wrecked”. On September 4 a meeting was held with 3000 children, most of whom belong to Scouts Catholic Action groups of the dioceses in the metropole of Ancona. To them, Msgr. Edoardo Menichelli of Ancona-Osimo said: “In order to be happy you have to spread the love of Jesus Christ across the world”. “The ecclesial community has the duty” to “assume with delicacy and discretion the Eucharistic mode of collecting the extra bits of humanity in the world” said Cardinal Paolo Romeo, Archbishop of Palermo, in his homily for the Eucharistic celebration held September 5th in the Saint Ciriaco Cathedral in Ancona. The Archbishop Emeritus of Turin, cardinal Severino Poletto, in the Mass celebrated in the Basilica of Loreto said: “All those in positions of social responsibility must ensure that everyone can access – hopefully – permanents job, notwithstanding the flexibility that is imposed by contemporary market rules”. On his part, the Archbishop of Milan Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, conveyed his “no” to the dictates of technology.Concrete “signs”. As a “sign” marking the days of the Congress, the “Blessed Gabriele Ferretti Charity” a home for the permanent accommodation of residents in state of poverty, with evening refectory and day reception centre for the homeless, was inaugurated in Ancona, to the presence of Card. Re. Also in Ancona, the Congress timetabled for September 10th the 4th National Pilgrimage of “Families for the Family” promoted by Renewal in the Holy Spirit in cooperation with the Italian Bishops’ Conference Office for the Pastoral Care of the Family and the Family Associations Forum.